Home(sick) For the Holidays
by Candaru
Summary: Apollo Justice has been in Khura'in for a few months now, and the work, lack of sleep, and homesickness has started to take its toll. It doesn't help when Christmas rolls around and makes everything worse. Luckily, home is where the heart is— and Apollo's heart is in the care of some pretty great friends. (PLATONIC Apollo/Phoenix, No slash/gore/ect. Rated T for safety.)
1. Weary

(A/N: I meant to post this on Christmas, but a lot of stuff happened so... posting two days late. Woops. Anyways, here's another unnecessarily long platonic fanfiction for y'all! XD It's not quite as intense as Fight Me [bless all of you that reaffirmed my confidence in myself by leaving nice reviews on that one] but it does get very fluffy. This fic takes place after Spirit of Justice, so obviously major spoilers abound. If anything is uncanon or OOC, it's because I haven't played the other Apollo Justice games yet. Anyway... enjoy!)

—

It was December 25th. There were carols to be sung, garlands to be hung… and in my case, paperwork to be done. 93 case files, to be exact, at least two of which had to be completely solved by the start of the new year, or innocent lives would suffer the consequences. For the past few months I'd been working through the huge backlog of wrongfully accused clients, trying desperately to clear as many names as I could while also fixing the very legal system of Khura'in— my current country of residence— itself.

I rubbed my temples and stole a glance at the clock. It was only 9:30 AM, but it felt like I'd been working all day. Probably because I'd only gotten three hours of sleep the night before, and none for the past four nights before that. Sighing, I looked back at the mess of files before me. Documents, memorandums, and a couple pictures were scattered around a six-month-old-autopsy report, which would probably just turn out to be invalid once I got to court anyways. Murder cases were the worst, but sadly, the most frequent of the case files I had stacked up. It seemed like my childhood country wasn't quite as peaceful as it was cracked up to be.

I rubbed my eyes and took another look at one of the pictures in front of me. Something about it felt off, but I don't know what. Nothing was inherently wrong with it, nor could I find any inconsistencies between it and the other data. I stared at the accursed thing for a good five minutes or so, frustrated that it wasn't giving me the information I needed. More frustrating still was the knowledge that even once it _was_ figured out, it would only lead me to another mystery to solve. And once I'd completely finished piecing together the puzzle and writing down my findings, I had another 92 cases to look forward to. Whoop-de-doo.

My eyes subconsciously wandered back to the clock hopefully. I'd agreed to give myself a break at 11:00 to go into town and buy and deliver presents, but alas, the clock still read 9:33. I groaned and wondered if there was a way I could make time go faster, although I knew I was running short on it. Still, even with the stress that would undoubtedly come with having waited until Christmas Day to buy presents, at least shopping would be a welcome break than trying to figure out how a fish could have been used as a murder weapon. I sighed and rubbed my temples again to ease my headache, which had steadily been getting worse for the past several hours.

After staring at the photo of the victim's body for several more minutes but gleaning no extra insights, I decided to take a five minute break and treat myself to an aspirin. As I left my desk to go retrieve the medicine, I allowed my mind to wander to what I should look for when I bought gifts later. First I'd deal with the presents for my friends here in Khura'in— little Ahlbi would probably like some fresh fruit, and Datz could do with a new pair of goggles, if I could find any. I'd already given Princess Rayfa her present yesterday, on account of it being her birthday, and thankfully, Nahyuta's gift had already been taken care of as well. The gang back home, on the other hand… I wasn't sure what to get any of them, especially considering my financial constraints and the fact I'd have to ship over whatever I bought. I'd actually intended to get their gifts weeks ago so they'd arrive by Christmas Day, but then I'd kept putting it off on account of the horrible feeling of heartthrob that arose every time I allowed myself to think of the U.S.… which, although I hated to admit it, was often.

Nothing in Khura'in was quite the same as the States. The sunrises came later, the coffee tasted more bitter, and goodness knows the bird calls were anything but ordinary. My current office was a full two blocks away from the marketplace and I'd still woken up to the War'baad's cry more than once. Not to mention the larger, probably more important differences, like the thin mountain air that caused my body to grow weary even faster than normal, and the fact that I was literally thousands of miles away from the nearest adjacent country. Just thinking about the distance made me feel somewhat ill. Apparently, when I was in California I was homesick for the mountains, and when I was in the mountains I was homesick for California. It wasn't even the "good old days" of home that I missed, though— I would've given anything to have been stuck in a murder trial with no prep and no evidence, as long as it meant having Mr. Wright or Athena by my side and Trucy cheering me on from the Gallery. It had been months since I'd seen any of them… I wondered if they'd changed at all since our parting. My stomach suddenly hurt intensely at the thought. I couldn't imagine losing Athena's laugh, or Trucy's smile, or Mr. Wright's wild yet confident bluffing.

I shifted my thoughts to the aspirin bottle— which, to my dismay, only contained a grand total of one (1) pill left, which lay sadly at the bottom missing its companions. I debated for at least three full minutes whether or not to take it, since I didn't know when I'd have enough money for another bottle. Medicine was more expensive in Khura'in since it had to be shipped in, and I was extremely tight on cash anyway. If I'd thought my college days were bad…

Deciding my headache couldn't possibly get worse than it already was, I poured a glass of water from the bathroom sink and took the pill, hoping desperately that it actually did something. Then I reluctantly trudged back to my seat, returning my gaze to the papers containing the details of the tragic murder of Mr. Nawn Immpore the 10th. I reread the autopsy report for probably the millionth time since I woke up, begging it to tell me something useful. It seemed like the longer I worked on a case, the harder it became to think of new ideas. I considered switching to one of my many other cases for a while, but I doubted I'd have better luck with any of them… especially because Mr. Nawn Immpore was already serving as a distraction for Ms. Cammy O.'s case, which I'd started over a week ago. Maybe if I just analyzed that picture that was bothering me a little longer…

Suddenly, I caught my vision dimming. I quickly gave myself a sharp slap on the face to prevent the onslaught of sleep, although I would've highly preferred to let it take me over, even if it meant my head hitting the desk— that was how I'd fallen asleep the night before, anyway. It occurred to me that if I didn't do something to wake up, I'd probably end up giving into the temptation again, especially since after getting a taste of sleep I wanted it even more than before. _Well… it can't hurt to go out shopping early,_ I decided. _At any rate, the walking might get my blood pumping, and I haven't been out of the house for at least four days._ Not needing to coax myself any further, I slipped on a coat and walked out the front door at a brisk pace, feeling the cold, snow-flecked wind mess up my half-styled hair as I made my way to the shops a couple streets away.


	2. Surprised

_Gloves… Scarves… Winter hats… Ah, here we are. Goggles._

I let out a tired yawn as I pulled the brand-new goggles down from the shelves, thankful that most stores in Khura'in were open on Christmas. An employee walked over and asked if I needed any help, but I politely declined as I studied the item in my hands. It was pretty similar to what Datz wore, if not exactly the same— my attention to detail faded a bit when I was tired— so I put it in my basket and continued down the aisle. I hadn't been able to find a fruit vendor to get Ahlbi's gift, so I was considering getting him a scarf, but—

I was distracted by the sudden realization that a familiar song was playing over the store loudspeakers, which NEVER happened. Most people in Khura'in spoke english, but all their songs were still in Khura'inese. I stopped walking and listened intently to try and figure out exactly what was being played. A few verses had already gone by, but aided by the familiar tune to guide my line of thinking, I managed to focus my hearing on the words over my head.

" _And I try, to make it on my own_

 _But this house, it don't feel like a home._

 _2,000 miles away tonight_

 _Tonight…"_

An amused scoff rose up from my throat as I intentionally drowned out the music by letting my hearing wander to the other chatting customers in the store. Of _course_ it was a long-distance song. _The universe just looooves to make fun of me, doesn't it?_ Then again, as I reminded myself, a pretty good number of english Christmas songs were about the same topic, so the chances of one playing weren't actually _that_ unbelievably—

Suddenly, I felt my muscles tense up. Did the song just say—? No. No, I was overthinking things again. I hadn't even been paying attention, anyways; it would be logical to assume that I misheard something. I grabbed a warm-looking scarf and started making my way back to the front of the store, walking loudly and trying not to listen to the song that was playing. But alas, my ears betrayed me. Despite myself, I kept hearing that lyric and could not for the life of me figure out how I was mishearing something so drastically. _I'm already homesick, so of course my mind's going to wander towards thoughts of home. Just stop focusing on the song._ I sped up my pace to the checkout counter and purchased my goods, firmly refusing to listen to the soundtrack by honing in on different people's conversations, which were mostly about their own families or the gifts they were buying for their friends. As I stepped outside I breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that I could push away all thoughts of home just as soon as I got back… well, home. Home in the first sense meaning the U.S., and home in the second meaning my office, where I'd been spending the last few weeks of my life. Datz let me sleep over at his place when I wanted to, but it was more common for me to sleep on an old mattress in my workspace, since then I didn't have to waste time traveling back and forth.

Before I'd walked too far away from the storefronts, it suddenly occurred to me to double-check that I'd gotten a present for everyone on my list. I glanced into my bag and started counting the items inside. I'd gotten a scarf for Ahlbi, goggles for Datz, a hair ribbon for Athena, a set of Khura'inese playing cards for Trucy, and a rather nice watch for Mr. Wright... _Good, that's everyone_. I rubbed my head again, wishing I'd ended up with enough leftover money to buy more aspirin and convinced that whoever created the pill had used ants as test subjects and dosed the medicine's strength accordingly. Well, maybe the loads of work ahead would take my mind off my headache. I walked faster, spurred on by the nose-biting cold that even my non-heated office would provide some welcome relief to. I wasn't exactly eager to add frostbite to the list of things that burdened me. But as I picked up my pace, so did the wind. The street was slightly less crowded than usual since many people were inside with their families, but the shoppers that remained— like myself— shivered and wrapped their outer layers of clothing closer to themselves, trying to fend off the wind chill and light flecks of snow that were whisked about in the air. Several clusters of people huddled together like penguins, laughing and raising their voices over the increasingly distressed roar of the Warbaa'd, which somebody was graciously but rather foolishly trying to wrap a scarf around. I thought I heard someone call my name during one of the roars, but pushed the wishful thought out of my mind in favor of fighting the wind, which nipped at my ears as it tauntingly carried false and distorted noises to and fro throughout the crowd.

"Apollo!"

I froze. There _was_ a voice calling my name… and it was a voice I knew as well as my own. Slowly, I turned around and scanned the crowd of people until I saw, about halfway down the street, a familiar figure waving in my direction. He was bundled up more than normal, but I'd recognize that air of authority anywhere.

"M-M-Mr. Wright?!" I stammered. Before I could consciously decide whether or not it was a good decision, I felt myself take off like a rocket in his direction before slamming into him in a hug. He seemed startled by the motion at first, but then wrapped his arms around me and laughed, saying something I didn't quite catch. Suddenly, I felt myself almost collapse against him, although he (being much stronger than I) prevented me from falling.

"Whoa, you okay?" he asked. His tone was playful but touched with concern, which I was both embarrassed and thankful for.

 _Now I am,_ I thought to myself as I pressed my head into his shoulder. I swore I felt time slow down as I sunk into my boss's arms like a little kid whose parents were about to carry them off to bed. Under the coat I was pressed against I could make out what smelled faintly like the Wright Anything Agency office and men's cologne. Never in a million years would I have imagined that I would've longed for scent of home so intensely.

"H-how did you get here?" I finally asked through chattering teeth, although I still didn't pull away from Mr. Wright's embrace.

"Same way we always get to Khura'in?" he responded laughingly, and I yelped in surprise as he picked me up as if he was going to mimic an airplane with my body. He seemed surprised when he was able to lift me, too.

"Apollo, you're… really light," he observed as he set me down gently. His face contorted into a suspicious frown. " _Please_ tell me you've been eating."

"W-well, yea, b-but money's been kind of tight, s-so…" I started, but thankfully I was cut off by a gleeful shriek from down the street.

"POLLYYYYYY! MERRY CHRISTMAAAAAAAAAAS!"

Mr. Wright and I turned our heads towards the noise at the same time to see none other than Trucy bounding down the street as fast as she could, with several suitcases in hand and Athena in tow.

"T-Trucy? Athena?!" I exclaimed as the two girls ran over, dropping their bags once they were in a close enough range.

"INCOMINGGGG!" Athena squealed giddily, and before Mr. Wright or I could react, both girls had tackled us with enough force to knock us onto the ground, effectively drawing the attention of several nearby shoppers.

"W-What are you all doing here?!" I exclaimed, but before I was answered, Athena made a few angry remarks to Mr. Wright.

"You told us _we_ could surprise him, boss!"

"I told you you could surprise him with the _presents_ -"

"EXCUSES, EXCUSES!"

I laughed nervously as Trucy helped me off the ground. "Hah, hah… Um, seriously, what's going on? There hasn't been a murder I don't know about, has there? I-I mean, I'm thrilled to see you all, but why are you here?"

"Murder? Goodness, no! First of all, it's CHRISTMAS! And second of all, Daddy's been worried sick about you," Trucy explained before either of the others could talk.

"Yea," Athena added in a huff, "He keeps getting distracted while he's supposed to be helping me with my cases. Thanks a lot, Apollo."

"Athena!" Mr. Wright reprimanded, sounding almost embarrassed by her comment. The orange-haired girl went into a giggling fit.

"I kept telling him you'd be fine," she said, starting to circle me like a bird inspecting its prey, "but looking at you now, I think he might have been right to worry. What's happened to your hair?"

"Oh!" Trucy exclaimed, as if some new piece of evidence for a case had just been found out. "Your hair _does_ look rather messy, Polly... your antennae are all droopy. Don't they have hair gel here in Khura'in?"

"N-not that I can afford," I replied through chattering teeth, half-joking and half-regretful. I was suddenly overly aware of how unkempt my hair really was, and how red my face probably looked from the cold. I risked a glance around to see exactly _how_ many people's attention Athena and Trucy had managed to catch.

"I hate to break up the party," Mr. Wright said, distracting me from my dilemma, "but it's pretty cold out here. What say you show us your office, Apollo? We can warm up there."

"Oh, yes, please!" Trucy added. "We haven't seen the official 'Justice Law Offices' yet! You have to show us what you've done!"

"And _I_ have to prove that I've been working harder than you," Athena said with a smirk. "I've had three trials in the past week alone. _THREE!"_

I caught a laugh before it surfaced, and Athena frowned.

"What, I suppose you can say you've had more trials than me?" she said, but Mr. Wright put a hand on her shoulder.

"Let's discuss work later, Athena. After all, it's Christmas… and we still have those gifts to exchange, remember?" His reminder was all Athena needed. Her face immediately lit up like a Christmas tree and she started bouncing ahead of me.

"That's right! Apollo, hurry up, we gotta get to your office so we can show you your gifts!" she squealed.

"You got us stuff too, right, Polly?" Trucy asked with a wink.

"Of course I did," I said, suddenly thankful that I'd decided to go shopping early. "Although nothing is wrapped yet, so…"

"DOESN'T MATTER COME ON HURRY UP LET'S GO," Athena yelled in one breath, already several yards away from us.

I smiled and laughed, clutching my bag of presents and following my hyper friend eagerly, with Trucy and Mr. Wright by my side. My entire day— scratch that, my entire Christmas season— had just been flipped upside down.

—

(A/N: Yaaaaay long fluff chapters. Get ready cuz the fluff only intensifies from here) (Oh btw bonus points for anyone who knows the song that's playing over the speakers XD If you don't know it and want to, PM me and I'll send u a link so u can laugh ur head at the stupid things that amuse me XD)


	3. Peaceful

"My office is just up ahead. Um, it's a little messy though, so…"

"Mr. Justice! There you are!"

I'd just turned the corner to my office when yet another unexpected visitor tackled me from behind. I spun around to see little Ahlbi hugging my legs in a frenzy of excitement.

"I've been looking everywhere for you! Mr. Are'bal said you were probably in your office, but I checked and you weren't there so then I went to the marketplace and then—" The boy stopped talking, suddenly acknowledging that I was in the midst of company. His jaw dropped. "Mr. Wright! Sir! I-I didn't know you were in Khura'in!" He bowed respectfully, then did the same for the female company. "You must be Mr. Justice's friends! I've heard about you!"

"I sure hope so," Athena laughed teasingly. "You're Ahlbi, right? I think we met briefly at the last court case… you know, the one with Queen Amara?"

"Huh? Oh! Yea, I remember you!" he exclaimed. Then, suddenly turning back to me, he said, "Um, I brought you a Christmas present, but I was told to be back at the temple soon, and I'm already running late, so…"

"Aw, you shouldn't have," I said, touched by the boy's thoughtfulness. I knew he and his family weren't on the top of the financial ladder.

"Here," he said, pulling out something from behind his back. In his hands he held an oddly colored tie: mostly purple with gold patterns on it, which I soon recognized as traditional butterfly and mitomah designs. It wasn't exactly the fashion statement of the century, but it actually wasn't a bad idea to wear in Khura'inese court.

"This is great! Thanks, Ahlbi," I said. Then, pulling the scarf out from my bag, I added "I've got something for you, too."

The little boy's eyes lit up like the candles he so often tended to. "Th-thank you so much, sir!" he exclaimed, clutching the gift to his chest. I caught Mr. Wright smiling warmly at him and Trucy making a face like she'd just been shown a baby puppy.

"Now, don't be too late for the monks," I said gently, nodding in the direction of the temple.

"O-Oh, right! I gotta go!" he cried in remembrance, and ran off as fast as his pint-sized legs could take him, wrapping his new scarf around his neck as he went. Mr. Wright chuckled.

"Ahlbi's a good kid." He looked over at me and smiled. "You just made his Christmas. you know that, right?"

Trucy saved me from having to respond by trying to open the doors to my office and loudly exclaiming that they were locked, thus forcing me to go unlock them for her in fear that she might use her magic tricks to open them in a different fashion.

"Finally, warmth!" Athena cried dramatically, running inside and flinging herself down onto the mattress set up on the floor. "Man, you've got a place for taking naps in here? Smart thinking. We should get something like that at the Wright Anything Agency, don't you think, Trucy?"

Mr. Wright looked like he was about to say something, but Trucy quickly interjected with a thought of her own.

"Um, Polly, not to be rude, but… it's still pretty cold in here. Do you have a heater?" she asked with a shiver.

"O-Oh, yea, of course, one second," I said, walking over to turn on the heat. "Sorry, I don't leave it running when I'm not here."

"Uh-huh," Mr. Wright said skeptically, as if he somehow knew that, would they have visited me in my office from the start like they'd probably intended, they would've still found the room unheated.

 _Hey, heating the place costs money, and that's not something I have a lot of,_ I thought defensively. But I couldn't have been any more giddy to have Athena and Trucy talking loudly while they removed their winter gear in the corner, or Mr. Wright silently analyzing my shoddy apartment-slash-office. Even if my bank account was dry and the stack of paperwork was going to physically kill me later, at least I wasn't alone. In the company of the old gang, I felt more at home than I had in months.

"Oh, Daddy, can we open presents now?" Trucy asked, walking over to tug on Mr. Wright's sleeve.

"I don't know. It's up to Apollo," he said, smiling at me.

"Y-yes, of course!" I exclaimed, walking over to the middle of the office and sitting down with my bag full of stuff. I made a mental note to give Datz his goggles the next time I saw him.

"Open my present first," Athena said almost demandingly, unzipping her suitcase and sliding me a nicely wrapped box from a few feet away. I smirked and obeyed the order, pulling out the contents with half an expectation to find a rubber chicken or the like. Instead, I pulled out a box of instant coffee packets and a pair of fuzzy slippers. I smirked and raised my eyebrows in surprise.

"This actually isn't a bad gift. You know that, right?" I asked.

"Of course I do," she scoffed. "I asked Mr. Wright what it was like to own your own law firm, and he said the first few months feel like being in college again. I took pity on your soul."

I glanced over at Mr. Wright, wondering how it was possible that I could possibly owe him more than I did at that moment.

"Well, come on, Polly, now give her your present!" Trucy insisted, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Right. Here. Like I said, it's not wrapped, but I hope you still like it," I said, handing Athena the ribbon I'd bought. I thought she could probably do with a new hair accessory, since she wore the same headband every day.

"Aww, it's so cute! Thanks!" she exclaimed, showing Trucy the trinket.

"I hope my gift's that good," Trucy teased. I shrugged and pulled out the Khura'inese playing cards from the bag.

"I don't know if it is, you tell me," I said. She laughed and clapped her hands together.

"Oh, yay! I have so many tricks I could do with these... And now people can't accuse me of rigging the deck!" she exclaimed with glee, leaning over and giving me a hug. "Athena, hand Polly my present, will you? I think it's in the same suitcase as yours was."

I'd soon unwrapped an oversized mug with the words "#1 Lawyer Dork" hand-painted on with red paint, probably intended to be a supplementary gift to the coffee. Trucy and Athena had weird styles of humor, which often involved making me the butt of the joke. They had both seemed really happy with their presents, though, so it was worth it.

"Hey, Apollo, what'dja get for Mr. Wright?" Athena asked, trying to see inside my bag.

"O-oh, well, it's not, um…" I started, but Trucy raised her eyebrows inquisitively.

"Well, now we're really curious. Come on, spill!" she exclaimed. Mr. Wright himself didn't say anything, but his expression gave away that he was intrigued, as well.

"W-well, I wasn't sure if you needed one, but…" I pulled the watch out of the bag and handed it to Mr. Wright, whose eyebrows slowly rose in surprise as he studied the item. I felt my face grow hot and I averted my eyes to the floor, hoping my gift was okay.

"Apollo, this is… really nice," he finally said. "Like… _really_ nice. How did you afford this?"

"I-It was on sale," I answered truthfully, rubbing the back of my head in a sudden fit of nervousness. "I also haggled with the storeowner a little…"

"Atta boy, Apollo!" Athena laughed with glee, slapping me on the back. "Finally taking some of my advice to heart, I see."

"W-well, thank you," Mr. Wright laughed, clasping my gift around his wrist. "Only, I feel kind of bad about your present now."

"Why?" I asked, then shook my head. "Okay, no, first of all— coming to see me was… I don't…" I felt my face start to burn again. "I can't express how much that means to me. S-Seriously, I don't think you could get me a better gift than that."

I ignored the girls' over-emphasized "awwwww" and started unwrapping the bag Mr. Wright handed to me— then froze and started to laugh when I saw what was inside.

"What is it?" Athena asked. "He actually wouldn't tell us what he got you, so we're really curious, too."

"No…" I said to Mr. Wright, staring at the object in front of me. "You didn't." I put my hand to my mouth in a vain attempt to stop an increasing fit of laughter.

"Polly, are— are you _crying?!"_ Trucy exclaimed in a startled worry, trying to see what was under the wrapping paper.

"N-no!" I lied through choked laughter, alarmed that my eyes were actually starting to water. I looked up at Mr. Wright, trying to blink away my tears. "This— pff— this is amazing. Thank you so much."

"WHAT IS IT?!" Athena yelled, then snatched the bag away from me and pulled out nothing less than a huge white bottle of aspirin from inside.

"Aspirin?" Trucy asked, sounding confused and a touch disappointed.

"You mentioned in one of your letters that you'd been getting occasional headaches," Mr. Wright said somewhat sheepishly, "and knowing you, I had a feeling that was a _major_ understatement. Besides, medicine here is more expensive than back home."

I couldn't respond in any way other than closing my eyes and nodding while trying to stop both laughter and tears. Without even saying a word, I grabbed one of the pills from the bottle and took it with the glass of water that was already sitting on my desk. I was almost afraid I would pass out from the sudden trip of emotions, on top of already being tired.

"Hey, Apollo," Athena said, "You gonna be okay? Trucy and I were kind of hoping you'd take us on a tour around Khura'in, you know, while we weren't busy trying to collect evidence for a trial."

"And Daddy said he'd take us all out for dinner tonight, so you'll have to show us your favorite restaurant!" Trucy added.

"Now, now, all that in time," Mr. Wright said calmly, glancing at the clock on my desk and setting his watch accordingly. "We've got all afternoon to browse around and find a place for dinner. First I want to talk to Apollo about the other part of his present… in private, if you wouldn't mind."

"Other part of my present?" I asked, as Trucy folded her arms in disappointment.

"Aww… but we just got here," she pouted. "I want to talk to Polly more. I've got a new magic trick I've been working on, and I'd love to show him!"

Athena paused, then sighed. Her face looked uncharacteristically resigned. "Yea… but we should give them a few minutes to sort things out first. Come on, we can go pay a visit to Datz while we wait."

I blinked, startled. _Did… did Athena just take Mr. Wright's side?_ Maybe she HAD gotten more mature since the last time I'd seen her.

"Well, okay... but you two be quick! We'll tell Datz hi for you!" Trucy exclaimed, helping Athena back into her coat and doing the same for herself.

"Please do!" Mr. Wright responded, and watched the girls walk out the door back towards the marketplace, which everyone knew was Datz's favorite spot to hang out. I was honestly surprised I hadn't seen him while I was there earlier, but I had no time to linger on the thought.

"Apollo." I turned to see Mr. Wright sitting criss-crossed on the mattress on the floor, motioning for me to sit next to him. Nervously, I obeyed his command, slightly anxious but extremely curious.

"U-um, you mentioned another part of my present?" I asked. Mr. Wright nodded.

"You can decline it if you want, but…" he paused for a long moment. "Well, I figured you could use some help on your case work."

"W-what?" I asked in surprise. "Wait, y-you wanna help me with one of my cases?"

"Kind of… I've actually got an agreement with Datz to stay over at his place, if you're all right with that," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "Trucy and Athena have to head back home tomorrow, but since work's a little slow, I can afford to stay for a couple of days, maybe even a week." My eyes went wide as I realized where the conversation was going.

"Basically, I'd be staying here, but sleeping over at Datz's place. I figured I could come over and help you get through the pile of work you've got stacked up. You don't talk about it much in your letters, but from how scarce those are, I can tell it's pretty bad." He laughed weakly, causing my stomach to flip over on its side.

 _No, no, no, not again...!_ I thought, as another onslaught of hot tears threatened to start streaming down my face. I rubbed my eyes vigorously and tried to prevent my breathing pattern from growing uneven, but to no avail. The emotions were coming on faster than I could control them. My throat tightened at the thought of how much Mr. Wright was giving up to help me, and the rest of my body soon went into panic mode.

"Y-you d-don't have to do this," I managed to choke, and tried frantically to stop the heaving of my chest. "Y-you already came to see me— on _Christmas,_ n-no less… I c-can't even imagine how M-Ms. Fey…"

Mr. Wright chuckled a little. "Don't worry, I celebrated with her and Pearl early. They know about this arrangement, too, so…" He trailed off and looked at me almost hopefully, as if he were the one getting the present instead of me.

Suddenly, I was unable to choke back a sob, and even more suddenly, I felt Mr. Wright grab me by the shoulders and pull me against his chest. A wave of tiredness rushed over me as five nights of three total hours of sleep suddenly seemed to catch up to me all at once, rendering me completely strengthless. I collapsed into Mr. Wright's arms, letting my weariness take control.

"I-I don't know how to thank you," I whispered lamely through tears, trying to regain control of my voice. "Th-this is more than I could've ever asked for..."

"H-hey, well," he said, rubbing his hands on my back and sending warm shivers down my spine, "It's not a totally selfless gift."

"Hm?" I asked without moving, preoccupied with silently beating up the anxiety that was trying to convince me to pull away. _Screw that. If this kind of relief comes at the cost of looking weak, I don't care anymore._

"Well, first off, I'm just as anxious to see Khura'in's legal system get restored as you are," he responded, in that casual tone of voice that superheroes use when downplaying their good deeds. ("Oh, yea, I saved the city once, it wasn't a big deal, though, I already had a quarrel with that supervillain, so, you know…")

"Secondly— and a lot more selfishly—" he added, moving his hands up to my neck and unintentionally increasing the shivers as he did so, "W-well... I miss you." I managed to turn my head upwards for long enough to look him in the eye, awestruck.

"M-me?!" I asked, shocked. "Why?"

I felt Mr. Wright's chest rise and fall suddenly as he burst out laughing. "What do you mean, _why?_ I see you almost every day for two years straight, and then you suddenly move away and I don't see you for _months;_ I hardly even get any letters from you because you're so swamped in work. Don't get me wrong," he added quickly, "I'm extremely proud of you. It's just different without you… and, to be honest, I'm… also kind of worried about you." His face shifted into concern again and he brushed back the two clumps of hair which had recently taken to covering my face. "I can see the shadows under your eyes, you know. And you're _way_ too light. I don't think it takes a lawyer to figure out that you aren't taking care of yourself."

I intended to reply with some kind of downplay for how correct he was in his analysis, but instead heard myself blurt out, "I-I don't have money for food… o-or time for sleep..." I was horrified at my outburst, but knew I couldn't retract the truth once it had been spoken. Instead, I clutched tighter to the fabric of Mr. Wright's suit and added in a faint whisper, "I… I'm so tired… all the time..."

"Sleep," he responded firmly, without a second of hesitation. Before I understood what was happening, I felt myself being lowered onto the mattress and saw Mr. Wright removing the outer, dark blue layer of his suit. "I'll explain to the girls and keep them out of the office for a few hours, and when you wake up, you can take us on that tour they wanted." Gently, he lifted my head and placed the bundle of blue fabric underneath it. _A pillow,_ I realized. "Sound good to you?"

I bit my lip to stop it from quivering and nodded meekly, unable to process exactly how grateful I was. I was finally about to _sleep_ for a few hours, and then I'd wake up to the company of the people I missed the most, and after that, the smartest person I knew was going to stay in a foreign country with me to help me get through the loads of papers that had been taunting me for months. It was completely overwhelming, but in the best way possible.

"Get some rest, now," I heard the command repeated, as Mr. Wright ran a hand through my ungelled hair. My eyes were already shut by the time I heard him close the door to the office to track down Trucy and Athena.

As I finally gave into the sweet embrace of unconsciousness, the faint scent of home lingered around my head and lulled me into a peaceful tranquility.

—

(A/N: Home is where the heart is! Time to post this before my anxiety kicks in and makes me hesitate X'D As always, reviews are super appreciated! Also, to any of my follower who are reading SDLPC, I promise I haven't ditched it I'm just on an Ace Attorney kick right now forgive me X"D)


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